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what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> british newspaper hacking scandal begins. former prime minister gordon brown says he is shocked about how information about his sick son was retrieved. in an exclusive interview with bbc, mr. brown explains how he was bonded to the revelation. >> in tears. your son is not going to be broadcast across the media. incredibly upset about it, thinking about his future, thinking about our family. >> also in the program, the half-brother of afghan president

and key political ally shot dead in the southern city of kandahar. early to deal with problems at home. the debt contagion hit shares across the eurozone. hello. it is 7:00 a.m. in washington, 3:30 in kabul, and midday in the uk, where the former british prime minister, gordon brown, has been speaking about his shot over allegations that two newspapers used underhand means to obtain financial and medical records relating to his family. mr. brown, whose youngest son, fraser, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, spoke exclusively about the allegations that he was targeted. >> i have never, never talked about my son or wanted to talk about my two sons and my late daughter in public.

i have always been reluctant. i have never thought it was right that the private lives of young children growing up, who i want to have an ordinary life, should be paraded across the media. i have always sought to keep them from that, and the record will show that is exactly what i did, despite people wanting to have all sorts of stories about their private life and the family's private life. i have never talked about my son's medical condition before, never talked publicly about his medical condition. >> but we are at a point where it is very relevant, potentially. >> i am not sure at this stage i want my son to go onto the internet at six or seven and find all these stories that have been written about him. i think the privacy of young children is a big issue. >> hell do you think that your

son's medical condition, -- how do you think that your son's medical condition, cystic fibrosis, was leaked out? >> i have never talked publicly about his condition, and obviously we wanted that to be kept private, for all the obvious reasons that you want to do the best buy your children. i have never complained about what happened to me before, but the truth is information did come all. i was approached by a the "sun" newspaper. they told me they had this information about his condition and that they were going to run this story. >> how did that affect you as a father? >> in tears. your son is going to be broadcast across the media. sarah and i are incredibly upset about it. we're thinking about his long- term future, thinking about our

family. but there is nothing you can do about it. you are in public life. you do not know how it has appeared, i have not questioned it, make any allegations or claims, but the fact is he did appear, and it did appear in "the sun" newspaper. >> i think it was rebekah brooks' who phoned, right? >> the problem that i have is that if this is a policy of newspapers in this country, that they are going to write about the medical conditions of young children, then you have got to ask yourselves, where are they getting this information from? i have never made any claims, i have not made any claims today. i have never raised it in the public arena. i do not want these to be public matters about the private life of a young child.

>> some say they got it legitimately, that they got that information legitimately. >> they will have to explain themselves. i cannot think of any way that the medical condition of a child can be put into the public arena legitimately. they will have to explain themselves. the issue for me is this. i never wanted to talk about my son's medical condition. i have never wanted to raise questions about it. it is in the public arena now, and i and the stand it. i make no claims, but the fact of the matter is i have my bank account broken into. , someonelawyer's files getting information from my lawyers. my tax returns at one point. medical records have been broken into. i do not know how all this happened, but i do know one thing. in two of these instances, there is absolute proof that people

were hired to get this information. >> let's get more information from the only grimly. he sees no legitimate way that access was given to his son's medical information. >> the relevance of the gordon brown and bill on this story is that it brought it out from leveraging of the gordon brown on this story -- mr. brown was really quite strong in his interview about what he was international of doing. he said they have links with the criminal underworld, which is an extraordinarily in motive phrase to use. we have asked them about their response, and they're still

standing by the idea that they got that story by legitimate means. on the question on whether they have links to criminal activity, they are saying no comment. they're also saying, "we offered all information concerning these allegations is provided to us." >> we also heard that rebekah brooks', then editor of "the sun," was then running -- >> applying for the pressure on those news corp. profits has come in in the last few minutes from the policemen who was charged with whether to reopen the inquiry in 2009. he has just said this, that he had big concerns that news international failed to cooperate with the police

investigation, and he says they had only recently supplied information to the police, which would have had a significant impact on his decision not to reopen that information -- that investigation. >> also pressure on the police as well. they're not acting quickly enough in the first place. >> the big criticism of the police was that either there was some kind of cover-up at scotland yard about these allegations, or that they did not realize the seriousness of them at the time. one of the senior policeman in charge of scotland yard, when these allegations first came to light, is just reminding mp's that at the time they were dealing with massive counterterrorism problems, the attacks on 7/7 on the london transport system. at the time, phone hacking was not the priority, but with hindsight, it is obvious it should have been. >> good to see you. thanks.

president karzai's half brother, wally tahlak med ahmad karzai, has been shot dead. with a controversial figure. the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. a few months ago, he was interviewed. >> it is quite extraordinary. we were in kandahar for a film in april, and i noted how many layers of security, barb wire, barriers, concrete walls that he had around his compaq and -- of around his compound. i told him he must be in the most heavily secured building in kandahar, and he said, "i have been attacked many times." i said, "who else has attacked khieu?" he said, "is just the taliban."

he was regarded in kandahar as the man who had the most power in the province, the man who was the main power broker, whether it came to problems like taking on the taliban, getting help with one of your ailing relatives. >> in about half an hour, we will have more information. clinton, what is the reaction to this killing? >> well, from western diplomats, a great sense of loss. they knew that ahmad wali karzai -- he was the man who could deliver the promised to bring that promise closer to them. not just in the sense of dealing with u.s. officials in the international mission in afghanistan, but when you went to his compound, you saw in dealing with local tribal elders

and the like, big piles of cash. he had tentacles that stretched not just across kandahar but the south of afghanistan. it was just up in kabul not so long ago trying to influence who would be the new governor. >> clinton, it is this damaging, then, to president karzai ? for getting the personal loss, of course. >> certainly president karzai will not be able to forget the personal loss. he says this will be a loss felt in homes across afghanistan. but you speak to the international mission, the realization is that he kept a lid on things, managed to keep things under control. kandahar is still very volatile as a promise -- as a province, but the united states and the afghan government has made a great deal of progress. much of the reason for that was the relationship with ahmad wali karzai.

should we arrest them, should we throw them in jail? eventually, he was much better on our side, and we needed him too much. the loss is being felt both within the international community and within the afghan government. >> thank you very much, from koppel. french president nicolas sarkozy is on a tour of afghanistan. he said he will withdraw 1000 french soldiers by the end of 2012. about 4000 french troops, a part of the nato mission in the country, he has stated that french troops would be brought home on a timetable comparable to that of the americans. some of the other stories making headlines today -- russia is having a day of mourning for victims on the river volga.

more than 100 people -- is here more than 120 people drowned in a boating accident. arrested in december after two swedish women accused him of sexual assault. he denies the charges. still to come on gmv -- from "the lion king" to " batman," we meet the composer behind a string of successful hollywood hits. police in northern ireland have been battling with rioters on the eve of an annual celebration that is a focus of attention on protestant and catholic communities. the trouble broke out in belfast when catholic youth hijack a bus and drove it to -- police used water cannons and latin rounds

against the crowd. >> children and teenagers rioted as adults watched. the trouble started when nationals hijacked a bus in belfast and drove it at a police cordon. it crashed before any officers were hit. >> the purpose of the heavy police presence and the presence of water cannons and the helicopter of of meat are to keep the 200-strong crowd -- above me are to keep the 200- strong crowd at bay. they are here to celebrate the july 12 holiday, which marks the start of the highlight. the police fired a number of batten rounds but mainly contain the rioters with water. it marks a poor start to a day in which thousands will take

part in hundreds of parade across northern ireland. a small number of with are strongly opposed by nationalists. >> canada is temporarily boycotting the united nations conference, after north korea was announced that it would be sharing it. no. 3 had been spreading nuclear-weapons and that it was -- saying that north korea had been spreading nuclear weapons and that it was absurd that it would be presiding over that meeting in north geneva. you are watching gmt from "bbc world news." former prime mission -- former british prime minister gordon brown is speaking out about

accusations that news international used illegal methods to make information about his family. a key political ally is shot dead in the southern city of kandahar. time now for the -- italy is the spot today. >> yes. the market is very nervous indeed. they are sweating. they're worried that the problems in greece, ireland, and portugal will spread to the likes of italy, and that is a very serious worry. we're talking about the third largest economy in the eurozone. banking stocks in europe taking a bit of a hammering. here is the problem, especially for investors. officials were saying there is a big possibility that we will allow greece to have some

selected defaults. investors go, hang on, what has happened to the safe reassurance that any country using the euro would be a safe bet, would be back stopped? because if you're a allows these peripheral economies to default, not pay their loans, investors will say i am not going to give my money to italy or spain because i will lose out. one of the questions i asked an expert is why all of a sudden this foc he had a great answer. >> the fact that no one has come up with a structured plan on how to deal with the greek problem, that is bringing no confidence to investors. italy will find its own way out of the crisis. a huge amount of debt. it is a nominal level of debt trillion.

keep in mind that they have to pay over 500 million euros over the next three years of that debt. it is putting italy in a situation of high risk. >> she said they are staggering sums in deed. italy's finance minister cut in the short and said that he had to get back to rome. we will be touching on the plans put in place later. rupert murder news corp. remains under pressure despite backing delays on decisions on its takeover bid from the british satellite channel b sky b. the stock has now lost something like 15%, marking some $7 billion of market value since the phone hacking scandal broke.

the former british prime minister, gordon brown, has accused another of the group's titles, "the sunday times," of pdp "the sun/ *." >> they're wondering how far that goes and also worried about the loss of profit for news of the world and other titles. the loss of revenue and other titles by deposing. they're all structuring their heads quite closely, because it is quite difficult to work out whether it is an overreaction or an under reaction. the financial costs of this very worrying set of events could be quite small, and news corp. shares have not exactly

been a fantastic for merck -- performer over the years. there is a chance there could be an overreaction here. >> the markets are ugly. is a sea of red out there at the moment. >> think you very much. highlighting the risks of smoking in pregnant, scientists of university college of london , that smoking may result in the deforms -- may increase the risk of the form limbs in infants by 20%. i was under the impression that in the uk we have information broadcast, that we have been pretty educated about the fact that smoking is not good while pregnant. why is this spring out something new? >> most of the harm that people are aware of, the risk of miscarriages, early birth, and

small babies -- those are the ones that public health education tends to focus on. for many years there is the idea that birth defects may increase as well, but this has not been highlighted. >> which age group is more likely to be found smoking while pregnant? >> is the younger age group where almost 40%, 45% under the age of 20 are smoking while pregnant, surprisingly high. >> is that an issue of education or what? >> partly education, also partly many think it is not going to happen to them. the chance is very small for any of these problems, but those risks are there. >> it makes you wonder, when you look at developed countries in a nation like the uk where information is relatively really

available, how is this compared to less-developed nations where the information is disseminated? >> there was a steady years ago that showed that smoking during pregnancy was on the increase, 9% in countries like south america, asia, and it has now doubled to 20%. >> what needs to be done? is it a more aggressive advertising campaign that is needed? >> most definitely. those who plan to become pregnant in developed countries, better access to nhs support and midwives also, helping them to quit. it must be very early on in pregnancy for this to work. >> thank you.

the you know what links "the pirates of the caribbean," "the lion king," and "inception"? one of hollywood's most successful composers. ♪ >> we are in north hampton. >> i have to say it looks a little forbidding, doesn't it? however, let's change the music. much better. [music plays] recognize it? the music from "the lion king," and i am meeting the man who wrote it. >> we saved classical music. we may get a business again for the record companies. >> cons of the zimmer, alongside

his collaborators, over the years they have brought as the soundtrack to "shrek," "pirates of the caribbean come up and 150 other movies. >> we're the generation that comes from rock-and-roll, so there is -- i think we take our rock-and-roll and put it into orchestral music in a way. >> however, for this one-off concert, they have had to master some non-rock-and-roll chinese instruments. the tunes from "kung fu panda." he moved on to composing tunes

such as -- ♪ it paid the rent? >> it certainly did. there was a time when i was a struggling musician. >> then he went to hollywood. the film has made billions, the sound tracks, such as "gladiator, joined the classical repertoire. >> it was played so much i was given an award. >> he was born in germany, but he started out in britain, as did harry n. john. the sounds of modern hollywood, not as american as you might think. >> amazing how important music is in film. that is it for now. plenty more to come on bbc.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put itsie global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, companies, what